Compressed gas container with reducing valve and auxiliary opening means therefor



May 27, 1952 E. GAGNAN EIAL COMPRESSED GAS CONTAINER WITH REDUCING VALVE AND AUXILIARY OPENING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Dec. 11, 1946 9 mnu mm Vg "GU k9 e mV v S 8 U G C G J By $7M Attorneys Patented May 27, 1952 COIHPRESSED GAS CONTAINER WITH RE- DUCING VALVE AND AUXELIARY OPENING MEANS THEREFOR Emile Gagnan and Jacques Yves Cousteau, Paris,

France; said Gagn-an assignor to LAir Liquide, Socit Anonyme pour lEtude et lExploitation des Procds Georges Claude, Paris, France Application December 11, 1946, Serial No. 715,434 In France December 15, 1945 3 Claims.

1 When utilizing compressed gas containers, for example for supplying respiratory appliances with air or oxygen, a reserve device has often been provided, consisting of a separate container and partly in elevation, and on the same scale as that of Fig. 2, of another portion of the reserve device;

Fig. 4 is a cross section, taken along line 44,

which is put in operation when the air or other 5 of the device showninFig. 2; breathable gas is exhausted in the main contain- Fig. 5 is a cross section, taken along line 5-5, ers. Such a device is especially useful in diving of the device shown in Fig. 3. appliances, in which a substantial time is often The container l, which is of ubstantially cylinnecessary for the diver again to rise to the surdrical shape, is provided at its two ends with face aft r a, mor or les prolonged tay at a subnecks it and I2 respectively. Into the neck l0 stantial depth, so that a more or less important is screwed a cock [3 which bears a hand wheel gas reserve must be available to him. it and is provided with a gas outlet I5. On the According to this invention, a reserve system end of the body of the cock is secured a valve is obtained without an auxiliary container being casing 3, the seat of which I! presents apertures necessary. For this purpose the compressed gas 8 through which flows the gas from the concontainer or container supply the utilization appliances through a valve which is adjusted for opening only for a predetermined value of the gas pressure and allows the gas to pass so long as the pressure inside the container or containers is above this value, and automatically stops the supply when the pressure still obtaining in the containers becomes equal to the adjusted one. It is under that remaining pressure that the gas reserve is formed. In order to utilize it, the action of the valve is removed by hand operating a suitable device which may be a valve-lifting device, so that the gas remaining in the container may be supplied again.

A method of designing such a device consists in utilizing as a compressed ga container a twoneck cylinder. One neck bears the cock through which the gas flows towards the utilization apparatus, the valve being placed, inside the container, at the inlet of this cock. On the other neck there is provided a hand-operated controlling member, which may cause the valve no longer to work, this member acting on the valve through the medium of a system of rod or any other transmission system which is located inside the body of the container and, when operated, provokes the lifting of the valve.

A form of embodiment of the reserve device according to the invention is represented by way of example in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a view, partly in longitudinal section and partly in elevation, of a container provided with a reserve device according to the invention, the central portion of the container being not shown;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, on a scale larger than that of Fig. 1, of a portion of the reserve device;

Fig. 3 is a view, partly in longitudinal section of the device.

tainer. The valve casing encloses a spring of adjusted strength, which presses against a valve member 5 of square section, inside which is inserted a valve gasket l6, which the pressure of the spring tends to press against the seat H.

A cock body l8, into which a shaft 20 may be screwed through the medium of a handwheel I9, is screwed into the other neck l2 of the cylinder, two gaskets 22 and 23 providing for the tightness The shaft 20 ends in a flattened portion 2| which slides inside a housing 24 of coresponding elongated shape provided at an end of a tube I 1 extending along the axis of the cylinder. The other end of the tube bears a push-rod I which is screwed into the seat [1.

The operation of the device is as follows:

The push-rod is initially disposed in its lowermost position. 50 long as the pressure of the gas within the cylinder is higher than that for which the spring has been adjusted it pushes the valve gasket away from its seat and the gas is flowing past the valve. This flow stops when the pressure of the gas inside the cylinder falls down to the perssure for which the spring has been adjusted. The gas which at that time remains in the cylinder forms a. reserve which is only available through a further operation. The latter consists in turning the handwheel I9 in the suitable direction. This rotation, which acts on the intermediate motion-transmitting gear, provokes the lengthwise motion of the pushrod, which lifts the valve-member from its seat, thus allowing the gas of the cylinder to flow again.

We claim:

1. A gas dispensing device comprising a pressure resisting gas cylinder provided with two opposite neck-like ends, a cock inserted into one of said ends and controlling the flow of the gas from the cylinder through said end, a valve placed inside the cylinder adjacent said cock and having an orifice through which the gas passes on its way from inside the cylinder to said cock, a movable element adapted to close said orifice on the side which tends to open by the pressure of the gas inside said cylinder, resilient means adapted to resist said opening with a predetermined force, a gas-tight closure for the other of said ends of the cylinder, a. movable member passing through said closure and adapted to be operated from outside the cylinder, and a motiontransmitting device located inside the cylinder between said movable member and the movable element of the valve and adapted to act on said element in the opening direction of the same.

2. A gas dispensing device comprising a pressure resistin gas cylinder provided with two opposite neck-like ends, a cock inserted into one of said ends and controlling the flow of the gas from the cylinder through said end, a valve casing connected to the inlet of said cock and having an orifice through which the gas passe on its way from inside the cylinder to said cock, a movable element in said valve casing adapted to close said orifice on the side which tends to open by the pressure of the gas inside said cylinder, a spring adapted to urge said movable element to resist said opening with a predetermined force, a rotatable push-rod screwed into the valve casing and adapted to act upon the movable element in the opening direction, a gastight closure for the other of said ends of the cylinder, a rotatable shaft passing through said closure bearing a rotating means outside the cylinder and ending inside the cylinder in a fiattened portion, and a tube extending through the cylinder, said tube being at one of its ends, rigidly coupled with the push-rod and ending, at its other end, in a portion of elongated inside section in which may slide said flattened portion of the rotatable shaft.

3. A gas dispensing device comprising a pressure resisting gas cylinder provided with two opposite neck-like ends, a cock inserted into one of said ends and controlling the flow of the gas from the cylinder through said end, a valve casing connected to the inlet of said cock and having an orifice through which the gas passes on its way from inside the cylinder to said cook; a movable element in said valve casing adapted to close said orifice on the side which tends to open by the pressure of the gas in the cylinder, a spring adapted to urge said movable element to resist said opening with a predetermined force, a rotatable push-rod screwed into the valve casing and adapted to act upon the movable element in the opening direction, a gas-tight closure for the other of said ends of the cylinder, a rotatable shaft screwed in said closure and ending inside the cylinder in a flattened portion, a hand member outside the closure rotatively coupled with aid rotatable shaft, and a tube extending through the cylinder, said tube being, at one of its ends rigidly coupled with the push-rod and ending, at its other end, in a portion of elongated inside section in which may slide said flattened portion of the rotatable shaft.

EMILE GAGNAN. JACQUES YVES COUSTEAU.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 158,768 Weisebrock Jan. 12, 1875 1,799,914 Lemoine Apr. 7, 1931 2,057,800 Strelow Oct. 20, 1936 2,117,952 Gourdou May 17, 1938 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 331,362 Italy Nov. 5, 1935 

